The Forbidden
by Asha Pearl
Summary: Non AU, Non Magic - Hermione in a different environment which wants girls to just look pretty and entertain their husbands. Starring: Harry as her childhood friend, Ron as a part of a relationship gone wrong and Tom Riddle as her lover. Or maybe more? Tomione


The Grangers were what you called a respectable family, when you first met them. Mr. Granger was a very renown advocate who was pronounced brilliant by many people and who seemed to possess the magical ability to have his clients pardoned, even when the odds weren't in their favor at all. Alongside this rather enviable ability Mr. Granger also possessed the ability to gamble away his money and that of other people, much to the worry of his wife Mrs. Granger and his ten-year-old daughter Hermione. Thanks to his two traits, Mr. Granger and his family seemed to be stuck on a never-ending horrifying roller-coaster ride. This proved to be rather tiring for his wife and his daughter.

Therefore, after knowing the Grangers for a while and counting yourself to their friends, you could certainly count on a small, casual visit in which Mr. Granger, sometimes alone and sometimes with his wife Emmeline, would ask if their close friend would lend them perhaps 50 000 or 100 000 gulden. They always did, after all in the beginning Mr. Granger would always pay them back after a successful trial.

But slowly as time passed, and the payback time didn't come, less and less people were willing to lend the Grangers that much money and those who already had were upset about not getting their money back, you couldn't call them friends anymore.

After knowing the Grangers for a while, close to nobody remained in their close circle of friends and instead drifted into the Grangers acquaintance category, where their wallets were safe.

Their relatives had a slightly harder time distancing themselves from their money squandering relatives and while the Grangers turned to their families more and more this was put to a stop when a contract was put into place, so that the family might not be approached by the Grangers.

Despite their money problems, the Grangers remained a respectable family in London and in hard times they always found someone to lend them money so that those times weren't too hard anymore. While their reputation stayed mostly clean and their high living standard continued to stay so a family that is almost permanently having money problems, couldn't be considered a stable environment for a young child.

And as time passed the young, plumb, rosy-cheeked child grew up to be a slim, dark haired girl who was called ladylike. The problem with this? All a lie, which was most of the time convincingly played.

As it is Hermione grew up in an environment, which disapproved of girls learning, of girls being anything but pretty and obedient and entertaining but most of all untainted. Yet Hermione's nature was almost the exact opposite. She was passionate, got loud when she was excited, wasn't in the least bit entertaining because of her serious and calculative nature. And to the horror of her mother loved to read books and while Mrs. Granger might have been a complete different woman in a different time, she currently was a lady, who ran a successful household and who meant to raise her daughter in the proper way, so that she would one day be a good wife to a hopefully rich husband. And while this attitude might horrify many, one mustn't forget that Mrs. Granger loved her daughter dearly and only wanted the best for her in such a society that chose to confine women in such an extreme way.

Thus, after years of influence and pressure, not only from her mother but alas, also from society the passionate, loudly laughing girl with huge intelligent eyes turned into the seemingly obedient lady who had nothing but marriage, clothes and her families name on her mind. But even her upbringing couldn't always suppress her natural instinct to laugh loudly, to hug her childhood friend Harry passionately and to read until her eyes burned from exhaustion. It didn't stop her fingers from being splattered with ink, although they were hidden by dainty gloves. So, while this version of Hermione remained very much unknown by almost everyone, this couldn't be said for a couple of people. These couple of people totaled up on four, still counting.

The first person being her longtime childhood friend, Harry James Potter. The Potter family was ancient, very well respected and to top it off also quite wealthy. It was a huge plus, that Harry didn't seem to mind Hermione's outbursts of unladylike behavior and Mrs. Granger was glowingly waiting for the day her daughter would be happily married to the heir of the Potters, not knowing that between the two of them "only" a wonderful friendship blossomed and not the rose of love.

Coming to the second person: Mr. Granger, who despite of spending money carelessly and being a merciless advocate, somehow still managed to be a good father for Hermione. One could speak of luck, that instead of inheriting her father's ability to squander money, she inherited his love and passion for knowledge and books and they often spend hours together discussing different interpretations of Shakespeare's works.

While Harry and Mr. Granger were a still consistent part of Hermione's life, the third person was someone who now played no huge part in it. This person entered Hermione's life as her potential husband carrying the name of Ronald Billius Weasley, an arranged marriage that almost took place until Hermione realized how utterly unsuitable this man was for her. While this rather unpleasant person let, Hermione realize what love wasn't, it nevertheless turned out as quite a disappointment for her mind while her heart told it "Told you so"

Now while Ronald Weasley is slightly more interesting than her father or a boring childhood friend being important to her, he still didn't quite make the cut. The following person did though. One might call him her lover and while he certainly was that too, he wasn't just her lover. Even though that was scandalous enough, he seemed to be more than just a lover. A lot more. And a lot more complicated to just sum it up in a few sentences.

His name?

Tom Marvolo Riddle


End file.
